Uzbekistan’s Athletes at the World Universiade

At the 27th World Universiade taking place through to July 17 this year in the city of Kazan, Russia, students from about 170 countries of the world are competing for 351 packages of medals in 27 types of sports.

55 athlete students comprising Uzbekistan’s sports delegation to that contest – the biggest one in the history of world universiades – are to vie for prizes in boxing, belboghli kurash, artistic gymnastics, kayak-paddling and canoeing, judo, sambo, weightlifting and track and field athletics, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

Under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, nurturing a physically sound and spiritually mature younger generation, and promoting healthy lifestyle are one of the priority dimensions of state policy. This noble goal epitomizes the bedrock of special significance attached to the popularization of sports from the initial years of independence.

The three-tier sports games, which have become a genuine school of mastery for junior athletes, have served as an important factor for the discovery of new talents and their preparation for big sports. The youth regular in sports take part initially in the grand Umid Nihollari competitions, and then raise their expertise and skills in the Barkamol Avlod Games. In the Universiade, gifted student athletes contend in a diversity of sports.

The Uzbek sportspeople to uphold the honor of our country at the World Universiade in Kazan include many young men and women revealed during those three-level sports games at home. In particular, the student athletes to take part in competitions in belboghli kurash and judo of the World Universiade are winners and prize holders of the Universiade that recently took place in the city of Bukhara.

The Summer Universiade, a distinctive Olympics for students of nations across the globe, was founded in 1959. A year later, student games in winter sports were held. These major competitions are organized by the International Federation of University Sports (FISU) located in the city of Brussels, Belgium.

For the last ten years, Uzbek athletes have been active in summer universiades. Notably, our judokas attending the universiade for the first time in 2003 in the city of Daegu, South Korea, Abdulla Tangriev and Egamnazar Akbarov won gold medals, Murod Kholikulov earned a silver, while Mikhail Sokolov and the tennis player Akgul Amanmuradova were awarded bronze medals.

The current World Universiade will serve as a peculiar preparatory arena for Uzbek athletes for the 31st Summer Olympics due 2016 in Brazil. An important guidance on this front is President Islam Karimov’s 25 February 2013 resolution on the preparation of sportspeople of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the 31st Summer Olympics and the 15th Paralympics scheduled for 2016 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The sports delegation of Uzbekistan to the World Universiade contains a few athletes who are winners and prize holders of world and Asia championships.

“To uphold the honor of the Motherland with dignity at the international sports arena is the highest goal and immense happiness for every Uzbek athlete,” says Sherali Juraev, silver medal winner in judo at the 2011 World Universiade. “Taking part in major sports competitions, we are deeply aware of the fact that our native land, people and President are backing us, while all the conditions being created are the outcome of our independence. At the 27th World Universiade we are going to demonstrate again that the Uzbek youths are not inferior to no one in anything and substantiate the high confidence shown to us by the President and nation.”